Some Roots of My Classism

If you are from a higher class background and scratch your head at the whole poor experience or why people don't just pay their bills, let me tell you about an interesting scenario that gives you a lot of detail into someone: bill collector calls.

Bill collectors will call your house & use every dirty trick they can under the law to get money from you. They might as well get big guys with pipes and baseball bats the way you can get harassed. Some of them will call people who aren't even named debtors just to bother them. I don't know why, especially if your address is different from theirs. Harassment tactic? Getting family members to harass you to pay a bill you can't pay?

Growing up in a household where you had to screen phone calls, I'm not a judgmental prick when it comes to someone getting collection calls. Here are some cues to where someone falls on the socioeconomic ladder:

If:
* You ask someone why they don't just pay their bills or write a check to a creditor.
* You give out information to creditors calling your home.
* You give out honest information to creditors such as phone numbers, social security numbers, etc.

then you have never been poor. You think all people owing money to someone are deadbeats and you're liable to get murdered by those who are honestly trying to pay bills but have asshole creditors who won't compromise or budge an inch. This type of thing provokes rage from my family members & from me.

The people who have had to deal with this know how scummy bill collectors are & don't help them. They also don't walk around with sanctimonious attitudes or make naive and stupid statements such as suggesting you negotiate with bill collectors or "pay your bills."

Do you really think anyone enjoys screening their phone calls or dealing with bill collectors? If you think there's any choice involved, you're a special type of scumbag & deserve to become poorer than anyone you dare to trash.

So I think where you fall on this issue is a good indicator of the type of person you are and where you came from. For my part, I think people who didn't have life handed to them on a silver platter are more resourceful, smarter and more prepared for the real world than those who did. I relate better to those people & figured that anyone I'd really be serious about would have to be someone who'd had to deal with bill collectors calling or understand real life as I knew it. My feeling was that no rich guy would ever be able to understand me and therefore, could never fully accept me for who I am.

One thing I'm thrilled about is that many people in my life believe in me and think that things will work out for me in a meaningful way. Some of these were people I didn't even think believed in me.

I'm glad people in my life root for me. We all need that. To me, if you're not rooting for me, then you're against me. Being against me means I don't give a damn about you. It means I know you'll be eating your words since many people doubted or discounted me on other things & when I proved them wrong, they had to eat their words. Making people eat their words is fun.

What I despise is haters in your own family. I feel like my husband suffered a disadvantage since I don't see most of his family believing in him or nurturing his dreams like mine did & still do. Count yourself lucky if your family stands by you, especially if you're pursuing a career in entertainment. He says they do but I beg to differ. None of them are buying our movies, going to our events or seem to consider me pursuing this as a serious career like everyone else does. Making money should not be the criterion to calling yourself an entertainment professional; otherwise, most of us couldn't claim that title.

I'm glad my close family & friends don't view me as some wannabe, that they take me & our work seriously. They'd be at our events & see me sing in a second if they lived near here. I don't have room for haters in my life, not anywhere. I feel like people are either with me or against me. I'm glad my husband & so many other people are with me. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

And if you're not with me, don't expect me to have any kindness or mercy toward you. Don't ask for favors and don't try being a friend b/c I'll just see right through you. Not understanding the creative mindset is a huge roadblock to relating to me or anyone else who is a true creative.